The Alternatives to Marriage
Project (AtMP) has announced that it will sponsor several events
in California next month to celebrate Unmarried and Single
Americans Week.

AtMP is a
national nonprofit organization advocating for equality and
fairness for unmarried people, including people who are single,
who choose not to marry, who cannot marry, or who live together
before marriage.

"National Singles Week," as it
was formerly known, originated with a local group for single
people in Ohio in the mid-1980s. When that group fizzled
out a few years later, the promotion of "singles week" was done
by the editor of a singles' publication in Arizona.

The American Association for
Single People became the prime sponsor of the week in 2002 and
the following year expanded the name of the occasion to
"Unmarried and Single Americans Week" to acknowledge the broad
spectrum of unmarried people -- single, divorced, and widowed,
whether solo or partnered -- who comprise this large and growing
segment of the American population.

A few years ago, Unmarried and
Single Americans Week gained the attention of the news media
throughout the nation when the Census Bureau issued its first
press release about the occasion.

The breakthrough with the Census
Bureau did not happen automatically or come easily.

It took some perseverance on my
part, with prodding for three years, but the Public Information
Officer of the Census Bureau finally concluded that Unmarried
and Single Americans Week was a legitimate way to recognize this
special population, just as other commemorative weeks, months,
and days, recognize other segments of American society. I
am pleased that my educational outreach to this federal agency
paid off and that each year a press release is now sent by the
Census Bureau to thousands of media outlets with information
about unmarried and single Americans.

The Alternatives to Marriage
Project, under the leadership of executive director Nicky Grist,
has assumed primary responsibility to promote the commemorative
week this year.

The group is sponsoring three
events in California during the week of September 16 - 22.
Two are in Northern California and one will occur in Los
Angeles.

The Southern California gathering
will occur at the home of Nancy Bauck and Rajiv Garg in Venice,
California on Sunday, September 16, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Bella DePaulo, author of Singled Out will speak at the
event.

Thomas F. Coleman, Executive Director of Unmarried America, is an
attorney with 33 years of experience in singles' rights, family
diversity, domestic partner benefits, and marital status discrimination.
Each week he adds a new commentary to Column One: Eye on Unmarried
America. E-mail:
coleman@unmarriedamerica.org. Unmarried America is a nonprofit
information service for unmarried employees, consumers, taxpayers, and
voters.